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Mercy Corps Northwest and the Washington County Reentry Council would like to invite you to the opening of our Reframing Reentry Photovoice Project and Protective Custody Exhibit on First Thursday, September 2nd from 5pm-8pm at the Action Center Gallery of Mercy Corps (45 SW Ankeny St, Portland OR 97204).

The Photovoice methodology enables those that are normally subjects of documentary photography to become the creators. It often gives voice to marginalized communities, empowering the creator by allowing them to tell their own story and can act as a vehicle of social change. The concept was originated by researchers in the Yunan Province of China in 1992 enabling rural women to influence the policies and programs that affected them.

The purpose of our project is to expose and educate the public to the challenges and opportunities associated with reentry post incarceration and to give these women an opportunity to tell their powerful stories. Reframing Reentry documents the personal journeys of 4 women releasing from Coffee Creek Correctional facility during their first month out. The tools they use: a borrowed Powershot G10 camera and a journal.

Also featured in the exhibit are photos from the Protective Custody project done at the Washington Corrections Center for Women. The collection features the women and children that participate in the Residential Parenting Program, a prison nursery program that allows selected pregnant inmates with sentences less than thirty months to maintain custody of their babies after giving birth. The mother and baby pair share a room during her sentence, and have the support of volunteer doulas, inmate caregivers, and an Early Head Start program located on the prison grounds. Conditions for healthy maternal-infant attachment are available in a safe, enriched and protective environment: protective custody

So please join us in celebration of Heidi, Tanya, Michelle, Megan and the ladies at WCCW on our opening night September 2nd. Refreshments will be provided. The exhibit will be open for viewing starting today (August 18th) thru the end of September. Please pass along the information to anyone you think might be interested!

The Portland Plan is underway. It will be Portland’s strategic plan – a road map for the next 25 years, guiding our direction as the city grows and changes. We face some real challenges, and our response to those challenges will create the Portland of 2035 — the city of our children and grandchildren. Information about the Portland Plan can be found on the web at www.pdxplan.com.

We Want Your Opinion! We’ve spent the last nine months reaching out to the broad community to find out where we’re at and where we want to go as a city. While we have spoken to a lot of people, we still desire to hear more from Portland’s diverse communities. We are continuing our outreach and feedback opportunities this summer by specifically asking communities who have been historically under-represented in civic processes to weigh-in by completing a Phase 2 Portland Plan survey. We want to hear from members of Portland’s ethnic or minority business associations and entrepreneurs, and hope you will take time to complete the survey: http://www.portlandonline.com/portlandplan/index.cfm?c=52540&.

We also hope that you will forward this note to other members of your organizations so that we may gather their opinions as well. The deadline for completing the survey is August 13, 2010.

Over the coming months we will be using feedback from Phase 2 to develop targeted strategies as part of Phase 3 of the Portland Plan process. We expect to have public meetings in early 2011 to discuss the strategies.
For more information about the Portland Plan, please contact Barry Manning (barry.manning@portlandoregon.gov; 503-823-7965) or Marty Stockton (marty.stockton@portlandoregon.gov; 503-823-2041).

Thanks for taking time to complete the Portland Plan survey. We hope you will stay involved.